Average

Overview

Many years ago a game came out that saw players controlling a mosquito that would target an unsuspecting family for their blood, with the sizes of both beings bein represented accurately, making players feel like they were navigating a world built for giants as a small and vulnerable creature. Now Gun Gun Pixies has emulated that same type of feeling but in a far more perverted manner. After first being released on the PS Vita in Japan, it took a more refined Nintendo Switch release to get the game in the West, so is Gun Gun Pixies worth your time?

Story

The planet of Pandemo has become nearly unsustainable as the inhabitants of the world no longer wish to interact with one another and personal success is seen as a great achievement with teamwork and relationships being seen as failures. With the world heading towards a slow doom, a pair of dropouts from the military academy have been assigned a special task of traveling to Earth in an effort to learn how human beings interact with one another and perhaps bring that knowledge back to save their own world. What makes these two girls perfect for the mission is that unlike others, Bee-tan and Kame-pon have formed close bonds with one another so despite the fact that Bee-tan is almost always horny and Kame-pon can barely contain her anger and arousal, these two are the best possible pair for the job.

The only problem is, Earth is nearly inhospitable to these two aliens. Not only are the pair incredibly tiny compared to everything around them but the atmosphere makes it so that they cannot leave the vicinity of their ship, relegating their actions to only a single college dormitory. To make matters worse, due to intergalactic law the pair are not allowed to personally interact with humans as humanity has not advanced far enough to meet interstellar guidelines. Of course shooting them with “happy” bullets and helping solve their various personal issues is still well within the pair’s rights.

The tone of Gun Gun Pixies‘ story is a bit odd feeling at times. From time to time through the fairly lengthy storyline players will have to help the various girls in the dorm with some serious personal issues ranging from health to other problems and these moments can feel rather meaningful but all of this content is also wrapped up entirely in the fact that the main focus of the game is to be as lewd as possible. There are some solid enough character arcs mixed into the narrative but for the most part players should be ready to see tons of yuri jokes and other lewd references almost non-stop.

The writing works well enough in this regard, though the jokes can start to wear a bit thin if played at length so Gun Gun Pixies does lend itself better as a game played in sessions rather than run through at length. Players shouldn’t expect a stellar storyline coming into this game but it does work fairly well given the premise and how well Kame-pon and Bee-tan play off each other. It is also interesting to note that while most of the girls in the dorm are fairly standard, longtime fans of Compile Heart games will eventually see a pair of familiar faces.

Gameplay

Gun Gun Pixies comes in as part visual novel that has a number of different endings as the story is told almost entirely through visual novel scenes with only small bits of dialogue worked into the actual missions while the missions themselves are played as third-person shooters. When beginning a mission, the player can choose to play as either Bee-tan or Kame-pon and enter any of the three rooms available as long as a girl is in them, some rooms will advance the mission while others may simply unlock bonus dialogue. Actually entering into a room is where the majority of the game takes place as it sees players having to investigate the area, shoot the girl with their “happy” bullets, and eliminate enemies that are spawned by unpleasant thoughts all while avoiding being discovered by the girls.

While this may sound fairly simple, it unfortunately doesn’t end up playing out that way primarily due to the fact that most of the gameplay elements in Gun Gun Pixies are horribly handled. The only real part that works well is the shooting mechanics and even then it is kept fairly simple as players will start with a certain amount of ammunition with more ammunition hidden throughout the room. Various locations scattered throughout the room can also provide the player’s weapon with a substantial boost but standing still too long leaves them open to not only enemies but being discovered as well. Enemies come in a number of different forms but mostly are handled the same way with the Pixies being able to take a few hits at a time before failing out of a mission, though given the game’s nature each hit strips away some of their clothing before they are left with only magical steam covering their naughty bits.

As the player progresses through the mission the girl they are targeting will grow increasingly aroused by the amount of happy bullets the player shoots into them and must be pacified during an increasingly sexy scene that sees the girl taking part in various lewd activities where, if completed properly, not only finishes the mission but rewards the player with a bath sequence that ups the fan service level to the maximum without going over the limit. In these scenes players can navigate the bath as well as pick up an increased amount of Picoins, the currency of the game, that are scattered across every level and can be used to purchase upgrades for the Pixies’ weapons and various bits of cosmetics such as new pairs of bras and panties.

As mentioned, while the gunplay works well and the fan-service element is as in your face as possible, the rest of the game’s mechanics are rather awful to deal with. Playing as a Pixie that stands no more than a few inches tall means that platforming plays a large role in navigating every room but between stiff controls, the fact that the girls are not able to grab ledges in any form outside of a grappling hook for certain locations that unlocks far too deep into the game, and an awfully controlling camera navigating a room properly often feels like a disaster at worst and a hassle at best. To make things worse, many of the places that players will need to investigate to find locations to advance the story are often in annoying places in the room that can either be difficult to reach or hard to even identify, making most missions last far longer than they have any right to.

Of course, all while navigating the room players will need to make sure they aren’t discovered by the girls in the dorm. There are two types of identification meters in the game in the form of sight and sound. Where the target girl can see is designated through a red warning zone while moving near the girl quickly, shooting enemies or the girl herself, and jumping around can raise the noise meter and if either meter is filled the mission is immediately failed. To avoid detection through sight the Pixies can perform Pixie Poses that make them assume a stance similar to a lewd anime figure, or crouch and crawl under a piece of furniture and giving the player a great view of their panties. Unfortunately dodging the sight of girls is a tricky thing at times as the game can often show that the player is out of view only for the game to still fail despite neither meter filling up entirely, leading to some wonky stealth mechanics that seem simple but mostly fall apart due to execution.

Visuals & Audio

It is nice to note that Compile Heart has paid quite a bit of attention to the character models in Gun Gun Pixies as the game features a large amount of customization for not only Kame-pon and Bee-tan but even the various girls in the dorm will change their outfits and underwear throughout the course of the game. This helps keep things feeling a bit fresh compared to the actual world itself which is incredibly repetitive outside of a few small changes that happen from time to time such as a different poster hanging on a wall or a pair of panties sitting under a bed. It is also worth noting that the game can suffer from slowdown during sequences that involve a number of enemies appearing on the screen.

The game only features Japanese voice work and for the most part the original voice cast handles the game well, though given the high amounts of moans this is certainly not the type of game one would want to take on the go. As far as the soundtrack is concerned, there are a number of standard tracks but unfortunately they don’t really stand out in any noticeable way.

Overall

Gun Gun Pixies has an interesting premise and a fairly unique take on a fan-servivce game but has more than a few issues that hold it back. While offering a fairly lengthy campaign, the game’s story is a bit on the weaker side though a solid love of lewd jokes and yuri themes keep it afloat through most of the weaker parts. Along those same lines the game’s haphazard control scheme and way of navigating an all too samey world make its passable shooting mechanics barely tolerable, leaving players with a repetitive fan-service filled shooter that offers plenty of eye-candy but not too much else.

Summary

A love of fan-service and perverted situations helps keep Gun Gun Pixies afloat through numerous gameplay issues and a lengthy but often one-note story.